Since the Wulfen miniatures and rules are now out, and it's a pretty big thing for the Rout, I decided I should prepare to do something with them, too. Notice the word "prepare", as I haven't yet actually bought a kit, and it will probably take about a week for my copy of Warzone: Fenris to get here, as well. However, it's not too early to start planning.
My drawing skills are a little rusty, but I think this gets across my general idea of a Wulfen's face. It would be surprising if I didn't end up sculpting at least one Wulfen head, so I decided I should familiarise myself with their facial structure. The general expression is very ork-like, especially when you can't see their skin colour or (facial) hair (speaking of, it will be tricky to sculpt them a moustache that does not look like enormously long nose hair). The main difference is the subtly muzzle-like shape of their mouth and nose. The chin is conisderably smaller than that of an average Ork, and I may have drawn this one a little too tall. Also, the teeth are more regular and less hippopotamus-like than those of an Ork. Other than these, though, I will have to use hair, skin colour and possibly facial toattoos to make the Wulfen seem distinct from the greenskins, face-wise.
I find that imagining a creature's skull is helpful to get a clearer mental picture of what the facial structure is supposed to be like. Obviously, a Wulfen skull would look like it's somewhere between a canid and a human. Pictures of other primates' skulls would probably be useful references. I also used a troll skull from Skyrim for inspiration, obviously omitting the third eye socket on the forehead.
This little exercise thas led me to currently believe that the Wulfen heads would probably look pretty good if I simply sculpted a human head with a clearly distended jawline and a muzzle-like nose and mouth. The nose would have to be extra wide and flat, and luckily, at least at first, anything I'm not sure of can be covered with thick hair.
Obviously, though I've looked at pictures of the new models online, I won't really be sure of how they look until I have them in my hands. That's also when I'll be really sure about the scale of the models. The Wulfen models are probably going to be pretty significant for my army, and I'm pretty sure I won't be even remotely satisfied by just following the assembly instructions in the box. If nothing else, I'll at least repose the pack leader. The standard pose looks honestly pretty goofy to me, and I expect I'll be replacing it with something more threatening and savage looking, as opposed to the model straight from an all-yeti production of the West Side Story. And since I'm complaining, I'm pretty sure I won't be buying the new Ulrik the Slayer model, either. It just looks way too static for the warrior who earned the repepct of the Khornate Daemon Primarch Angron.
I'm also seriously considering making another model of the Redmaw, to visually tie the character in with the new models. I probably won't do that until I'll have at least one Wulfen pack ready and painted, and definitely not until I've had a chance to take a close look at the new models, so not before March, I'd guess.
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